Paying attention to what you're eating and how it makes you feel not counting calories in and calories out is the real secret to reaching and maintaining your healthy weight.

Paying attention to what you're eating and how it makes you feel — not counting calories in and calories out — is the real secret to reaching and maintaining your healthy weight.

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Eat with all your senses

Eat with all your senses

Taste is what's most associated with food, but it's not the only sense you bring to the table. "We would like eating to be about the stomach, but it's really about the eyes," says nutritionist Stephanie Middleberg. "There are a lot of components to being 'satisfied' with your meal — taste, texture, portion size." Acknowledge that just because you see food on your plate doesn't mean you need to finish it. After all, there's no parent staring you down and refusing to excuse you until eat everything in front of you.

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Assess your fullness

Assess your fullness

If your mother-in-law tends to shovel food into her mouth, use it as a reason to sit across from, not next to her. We pick up on other people's behaviors, so do yourself a favor and choose a seat next to the slowest eater. Then, use him to pace yourself. Other strategies for noshing at a healthy pace include using your non-dominant hand, taking drinks between bites, and excusing yourself halfway through a meal to stand up, walk a little, and asses your fullness.

Eat with all your senses

Taste is what's most associated with food, but it's not the only sense you bring to the table. "We would like eating to be about the stomach, but it's really about the eyes," says nutritionist Stephanie Middleberg. "There are a lot of components to being 'satisfied' with your meal — taste, texture, portion size." Acknowledge that just because you see food on your plate doesn't mean you need to finish it. After all, there's no parent staring you down and refusing to excuse you until eat everything in front of you.

Getty Images

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Assess your fullness

If your mother-in-law tends to shovel food into her mouth, use it as a reason to sit across from, not next to her. We pick up on other people's behaviors, so do yourself a favor and choose a seat next to the slowest eater. Then, use him to pace yourself. Other strategies for noshing at a healthy pace include using your non-dominant hand, taking drinks between bites, and excusing yourself halfway through a meal to stand up, walk a little, and asses your fullness.

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Choose activity foods

Foods that you have to work to eat are known to reduce your intake, so opt for items that require extra effort. (One study found that those who ate in-shell pistachios consumed 41 percent less calories than those who ate the shelled nut.) A similar principle applies to peel-and-eat shrimp, super-cold foods like frozen grapes, anything on the bone, such as lamb chops, whole fish and rotisserie chicken, baked potatoes, grapefruit, and penne, of which you tend to take individual bites as opposed to spaghetti, all of which require individual bites.

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Destress before you eat

Most of us have battled emotional eating enough times to know that nothing good comes of it. So when you return from a long and frazzling day, don't immediately sit down to a meal. "Do a few yoga poses, wash your face, have some warm water with lemon, light candles," suggests Middleberg. By creating a little time-out between you and all the craziness in your head, you'll be able to see food for what it is — nourishment rather than a painkiller.

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Don't eat family style

Plopping down a big pot of simmering goodness right in front of you is a surefire way to overeat. Instead, serve food onto everyone's plates, and keep the leftovers out of sight in the kitchen. The same goes for snacks — even healthy ones like popcorn or nuts. Take what you need in a bowl, and immediately return the bag to the cabinet. That way, when you bring back your dish, temptation won't be at your beck and call.

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Fight portion distortion

Restaurant helpings tend to be larger than what you'd serve yourself at home, but if eating out is a habit, you may think you should eat whatever comes out of the kitchen. Not so, says Stephanie Middleberg, who regularly sees dishes that could last three meals. Teach yourself what a serving of meat looks like — about a deck of cards — or a serving of carbs — about the size of your fist. Your plate shouldn't be overflowing with food — using plates with wide brims and making sure you can see the border helps you avoid taking super-sized amounts of food. Once you practice eating these portions over and over, taking a normal amount will become more natural.

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Don't EWD (Eat While Distracted)

Between making tomorrow's lunches and coaching a friend through a crisis, you hardly have time to sit down for a proper dinner. But distracted eating can be costly. "If you’re not paying attention, you're probably eating quickly, not seeing what you're eating, and probably not going to stop eating until the plate is empty," says Middleberg. "Make it a point to sit down at the table, put cell phones and other distracting materials away and make the people you're with your sole focus."

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Kick up the spice

Spicy foods naturally slow down eating, giving you more time to savor your food, and a better chance of realizing you're full in time to stop chowing down. This is partially attributable to smell, which is vital to feeling satisfied. Middleberg recommends adding hot sauce, wasabi, chili peppers and aromatic herbs to your dishes.

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Learn the order of operations

Turns out, there's a good reason your teachers stressed this math principle so often. Start your meal with vegetables, which give you the most bang for your caloric buck, followed by protein. Eat carbs last as they go down the fastest. Also try breaking foods into courses, and placing a piece of fruit on the side of your main-course-plate, which will make you feel like you're eating more.

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Play with your dishes

White dishes are simple and elegant, but they aren't always best for controlling what you eat. The color blue is a proven appetite suppressant, making it a good choice for your dishes. Those plates with brims or colored borders draw a clear boundary, keeping you from filling up the entire space. Eating with a salad fork and cutting food very small means more bites, and the chance to savor and chew food more carefully.